Articles

Three Things God Requires

Rickie Jenkins05/30/18
- Wednesday's Walk

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).

Micah describes a tense courtroom scene as God accuses His people of being disloyal to Him and committing fraud against one another (Micah 6:2-4; 9-11). God’s tone is not harsh and condemning. He pleads with them as “My people,” and He reminds them of many times when He rescued them from trouble. He doesn’t want to judge them; He wants to build them up.

The people of God respond to God’s correction with mock repentance. They complain, “What do you want from me? Okay, I’ll give you everything you could possibly want. How about a thousand rams to sacrifice? And how about then thousand rivers of oil? Not enough, God? Then, I’ll give you my firstborn child as a sacrifice. Surely that is enough for you!” (Micah 6:6-7).

Micah steps in and calmly speaks the truth, which cuts to the heart of the matter. “What does the Lord require?” he asks in response to their emotional offers of sacrifice to appease God. “God does not want rams or rivers of dead children. He wants only three things from you: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. That is enough and that is plenty.”

God is grieved when we rebel against Him or ignore Him and, like the parent of a defiant teenager, He is probably exasperated when we still don’t understand and mock Him. Instead, God wants three things from us: good choices, rightly placed affections, and humility to embrace His love, acceptance, and forgiveness. That is enough and that is plenty.